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Meet our new Group Director of Health, Allison Hopper

ThomsonAdsett is pleased to announce the appointment of Allison Hopper as Group Director – Health.

For over 30 years, Allison has worked extensively on health projects, ranging from $250k to $2.5b in value. Prior to joining ThomsonAdsett, she was a Practice Director for BVN. There, she led architectural teams in the design and delivery of large health and Department of Defence projects.

Allison was also a government adviser to the Victorian Department of Health for two major health projects, where she assisted in the briefing and planning stages.

Most recently she’s applied her skills to designing seniors living projects for MiCare and other major healthcare providers.

Here, Allison shares her vision for her new role.

How does your experience perfectly position you for your new role?

I have worked predominantly in health planning and architecture for the last 15 years. During that time, I’ve been fortunate to work on the design of all departments and master planning of large complex hospitals. It has given me a detailed knowledge of the priorities for clinicians and health professionals, and a good understanding of healthcare delivery both in Australia and internationally.

This knowledge helps me understand how we, as architects, can be of best service to the healthcare community.

What will you bring to the role?

I bring leadership knowledge and understanding of what is required to deliver a well-designed hospital. I enjoy using my skills as an architect to provide a service to our community and to ensure health professionals have the best facilities to deliver care.

I strongly believe good design aides patient recovery, staff efficiency and effectiveness and I am committed to delivering design excellence.

What are some of the benefits of being based in Melbourne?

Melbourne has an abundance of hospitals, many of which are ageing and ready for upgrade or replacement. We are in a good position in Melbourne to undertake new healthcare design work in a sector that is currently quite buoyant.

What are some of the trends or growth areas you’re seeing in the health sector?

There is an emphasis on wellness and ageing in place, and as a result, a large push to keep people fit and well in the community rather than in hospital.

There is a drive to position health facilities in accessible locations within the community. For example, ‘medical malls’, where community health facilities are located within shopping areas. There will always be a need for large tertiary health facilities but there is not the same past reliance on hospitals being the only place to go for health care. We are moving from institutional care to community-based care and this is a strong area of growth for delivering healthcare services.